Saturday, October 3, 2009

Do you believe in ghosts? Yes or no, win a purse.

I've never had a contest nor have I given anything away on my blog because I really didn't think anyone would want anything I make. But since not all of my readers are sewists, and not all of my sewing readers like to make purses, I'm going to give it a shot.

And who doesn't like something for free. Well almost free, because I have a task for you.

Read on.

I love a good ghost story which is probably why Halloween is my favorite holiday of all. That and getting dressed up in costume, drinking apple cider (hard or otherwise), enjoying the colors of fall... I could go on ad nauseum but I'll stop here.

I, for one, like to keep an open mind about the spirit world, but until a ghost jumps up and bites Hans the scientist, on the butt, he says they don't exist. Period.

So anyway back in 1999 I had a run in with something (that until someone can prove otherwise) I will call a ghost.

It was December and I was waitressing at the inn. I've mentioned in the past that December is a hellishly busy month at the inn due to Christmas parties etc... and the day of my run in with Miss Ghost, I worked a double shift.

I finished serving lunch and headed down to the ladies room in the dinner theater area of the inn to fix my makeup (waitressing is a sweaty job). At this point the only other person in the whole downstairs was one of the waiters, and he was in the dining room.

The ladies room has a double sink area directly in front of four stalls. If you stand at the sink you cannot touch the stall doors even if you lean. Bear with me, this is important.

As I was fixing my makeup, the stall door directly behind me started to open.

Okay, apparently I wasn't alone in the bathroom. No big deal.

Except the door opened up fully, and from my vantage point at the mirror, I could see that there was no one there.

Also understand that these are heavy wooden doors and there is a big steel spring on the inside that keeps the doors closed when not in use. So after I watched the door open up, I watched it slam and eventually bounce closed.

That's when I turned around.

Okay, who the hell was playing a joke on me.

"Hello?" I called out.

No answer.

So I walked over and opened the door. Of course no one was in there, nor was anyone in the other three stalls, because I opened those doors too.

That's when I stalked out of the bathroom and went to fetch Mike, the waiter, from the dining room.

Mike was a college kid and I used my Mom voice on him so he didn't argue when I demanded he come into the bathroom with me.

He patiently listened to my story and agreed that no way could I have bumped the stall door while standing at the sink.

He agreed that the window was shut and a draft could not have caused the door to open.

And since we're not prone to earthquakes, the only explanation was that I'd had a run in with the legendary inn ghost.

There've been many recorded sightings of the ghost over the years but I certainly didn't think I'd end up having one of them.

And while I found the encounter puzzling, I was never really frightened which is shocking because I'm a chicken shit at heart, I really am!

I've told this story countless times to guests over the years, and for the most part it's been favorably received. I've even had demands for more stories.

Except for one woman. Her thin lips disappeared and her nostrils swelled. "I'm a Christian!" she announced haughtily. "And I don't believe in ghosts!" I wanted to ask her if she'd ever heard of the holy ghost, but I didn't dare!

This sighting happened the first year I worked there and unfortunately I never experienced another one.


So here goes. Because I love me a ghost story I want to hear yours. You can even just leave a comment as to whether you believe in ghosts or not. Or maybe you think I'm crazy (but understand your chances of winning might greatly diminish if you feel the need to tell me so!)


In a week I'll make a random drawing. Whoever wins will get a custom made purse created by me (what the heck, it's free!). I think either a passport purse (you don't need a passport to use it!) Or a back pack. I'll even let you pick your own colors!


I will be out of Internet range until Tuesday so I hope when I get back I have some fun and spooky stories to read!

13 comments:

Shirley said...

Well I don't really call it a ghost story but one day I was waiting at a corner for the light to turn green at the crosswalk. When it did I checked to my left that no car was going to turn from there. I went to step down onto the road when I felt "someone" pull me back. I was startled because I knew that there wasn't anyone around me but just then a car ran the red light and drove right where I should have been walking at that moment. Spooky!

Are you taking international entries?

Maryissewfast said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Maryissewfast said...

Oh Laura...I do believe and your story brought to mind a similar encounter I had with Grandpa Louis. My husband and I were living in his great grand parents house when our daughter was a baby. Grandpa Louis loved children. My Mother in Law told stories of being at the dinner table as a little girl and her Grandpa Louis would throw mashed potatoes and always make the kids laugh. Grandpa Louis also loved to hunt and fish, and when he got too old to do that anymore, he bought Grandma Lottie a beautiful diamond ring, cleaned the house really well, cooked her a wonderful meal and then went out back beneath the apple tree and shot himself. Of course I had heard the tales that Grandpa Louis still lived there and strange things happened, but I thought "okay, yeah, whatever." It was an old house...old houses creak and things go bump in the night. But what happened in the Fall of 1982 changed my mind. I was feeding Sara one evening in the dining room and she was very fussy...refusing to eat. There were french doors leading out into the laundry room and one of the doors slowly opened. I didn't think too much about it because I had the windows open in the laundry room and I thought perhaps there was a breeze. Sara looked over towards the door and her demeanor immediately changed from crying to smiling and laughing! I thought "that's weird". She ate her dinner cheerfully and as I was cleaning her up to get her out of the high chair, I noticed the french door slowly closing. That struck me as really odd, so when my husband got home from work I told him about the experience. He just smiled and said "look at the french doors Mary" There were several panes of glass out of the door (like I said...this was an old house and needed some serious work). It would have taken a helluva a wind gust to move that door either way, and it certainly would not have opened and closed as carefully as it had. Grandpa Louis had been there! I never felt alone in that house again after that, and it wasn't a creepy feeling...it was more like a protection. So yes, I do believe! Thanks for sharing your story! Mary

Kathi D said...

When I was barely 20, a roommate and I rented a house that looked like an average suburban place, but for some unknown reason it made us uneasy right from the start. Soon, odd little things started to happen. Our cats freaked out in the middle of the night and knocked things about, and there was a strange cold spot in the middle of my roommate's bedroom. The capper was when we came home one night to an empty house and saw the curtains part as if a hand had drawn back one side--in the middle, not from the bottom as it would have been from a cat moving them. We moved out pretty quickly after that!

BeeBee said...

Our second house was a trade with my husband's uncle - odd circumstance, I know. About a week before we were to move he (Uncle, not husband) started talking about how the house was haunted. He was an odd man and I just ignored him - figured he was trying to scare me or just mess with me. When moving in I noticed the lights over the master bathroom counter didn't turn on - three long flouresent fixtures. Forgot about it and went to bed - DH was still with the Uncle on his half of the move. I'd just fallen asleep when the lights suddenly blasted on! I jumped about a foot and then, just for that second, though perhaps Uncle was right: It was Haunted! (or I'd left the switch on and the balast finally triggered the lights, whatever)
And this is funny, the word verification I have to type in is "jokeban", Funny for a thread on whether or no you beleive in ghosts.

BeeBee said...

Oh, wait, I've got another one. About 15 years ago a friend where I worked passed away. She was young and a quadriplegic from a diving accident about 10 years before that. Her family owned the business. She was very close with them and frequently mentioned that she still enjoyed going to Mass with them every Sunday, but hated the incense they burned. It made her nauseous and she tried to sit where it wasn't as strong. She was diagnosed with cancer and didn't last long. At her funeral the priest went to light the incense and it wouldn't light. He tried for quite a while and then passed the job off to a couple of alter boys who failed as well. Probably 10 minutes total was spent in this endeavor. I'm still picturing Cindy blowing out the match every time they held it to the incense. But creepy none the less.

Patty said...

Hi
I found your link via haunjaunts and wanted to come by and say hello. My ghost story was when I was working at a local mall. It is really long and I have it posted over on my paranormal blog. Would it be cheating (for the contest) to ask you to read it there? It is to long to retype.
I am putting the link here.

http://igoghosthunting.blogspot.com/2008/05/my-personal-experience.html


I hope you will also enjoy some of my other post on the blog. I will be back to visit you agian..
Thanks for the nice viist.

Courtney Mroch said...

Well, I do believe in ghosts and found your story very interesting because one of the ghost stories I have also happened in a bathroom --at Harry's, a restaurant in St. Augustine, FL.

I just sensed I was not alone, couldn't understand the chill I was experiencing, returned to our table prepared to tell my husband, but once I was out of the bathroom I just sort of laughed it off.

It was only later when I was in Barnes and Noble looking through ghost legends on the region that I stumbled upon one for 46 Avenida Menendez. It specifically said psychics brought in detected a spirit in the bathroom...but I wasn't sure it was Harry's. (They just listed the address, said it had been another restaurant before, but didn't specifically identify it as Harry's.)

However, I dragged my husband back down there and, sure enough, 46 Avenida Menendez WAS Harry's address!

I wish I could explain it better. It was just so freaky!

Mrs. Dull said...

Ah, this is just my cup of tea.... I never saw a ghost, but I have plenty experiences that really make me believe they excist. I'll tell you the best one.

I was 19 when my grandmother passed away. My grandfather was already deceased, so we had to empty the house. Before we went there, my mother asked if there was anything we wanted per sé. I really wanted the glass I always got when I came over to visit and I wanted the drawing that my father made of me when I was a little girl. So we went there and I went into the cupboard to get the glass. It wasn't there... I was sad, my grandmother didn't told me it was broken (she was sick in the last 1,5 years of her life, so maybe she forgot to mention it). But when I went into the bedroom, the drawing was gone too. We were with 7 people (my uncle and aunt, my cousin, my parents and sister) and we searched the entire 1-bedroomapartment, we removed all the furniture, we searched in the basement. We searched for an hour. I was in tears, the glass might have been broken, but if the drawing was gone, my grandma must have been upset with me and threw it out or something. Now, the only people who got a key were my aunt and my mother and we left the apartment empty. My grandmother's house was 2 blocks away from my parents house and 2 days later, my mother went for a walk with the dogs. It was a grey day. When my mother walked through my grandmothers street, the sun came through, and when my mother passed by the window the sun lit the window, my mother looked inside, and there, in the middle of the room, against the wall was the drawing... My mother went in, took it with her and called my aunt; why didn't she called to say she found it? But my aunt lives a 45 minute drive away and she had been working, she hadn't been in the apartment... To this day I still can't believe it. There's no way 7 people can overlook something that's in the middle of a room....
But I am gratefull for the drawing.

laura said...

This is a lot of fun!! I'm really enjoying these stories. Anyway, international comments are certainly welcome! And Patty, your link is fine too (I'm going to check it out when I can have internet access for more than a few minutes!).

Janet said...

Hi Laura, I don't have any personal stories. I don't doubt them, a lot of strange and unexplained things happen in this world. Were you the waitress who told the story about how music mysteriously turns on by itself in the Inn's kitchen? I love reding your blog. Thanks! Janet

Janet said...

Hi Laura, I don't have any personal stories. I don't doubt them, a lot of strange and unexplained things happen in this world. Were you the waitress who told the story about how music mysteriously turns on by itself in the Inn's kitchen? I love reding your blog. Thanks! Janet

Angelia said...

I used to live in an old house way out in the country that belonged to my great grandmother for about 3 years.. the house had been half built from the wood of an older house from the 1800's on our family farm... anyways.. much happened there to "creep" me out but my favorite was the opening and closing of bathroom door everynight around 3am. At first scary.. then annoying! It wouldn't stop until I got up or said something.
The other favorite was the back room/back porch events... every so often me and my (at the time)husband would hear LOUD banging around, moving furniture sounds in the back room and back porch. We would run to the back and it would stop... everything looked the same as always nothing ever out of place... one time my ex even tried to go out the front door and sneak around the back... lol! and nothing! One time when I was alone in the house it got so loud I couldn't hear my girlfriend over the phone!!! Again scary at first... then just annoying!
btw: I'm a christian also, I can't explain what happened in this house but it happened.. or what it was (ghost,evil, who knows!)lots of unexplained things in the world!! God doesn't let us know eveything though, right? even if alot of people think they know everything lol!!!